Change
by Serenity'sfire98
Summary: Change is scary. Regret is scarier. The Overland siblings are reunited after 300 years, but things have changed a lot. Both are going to have to adapt to being Guardians, and being together again with a new family in North, Bunny, Tooth, and Sandy. One-shots, drabbles, and story arcs for my Stranger AU after Emma becomes a Guardian. T is as high as it'll go. Pretty much any genre
1. She Knew Better

**Hello all! This is the first in my one-shot series in my Stranger AU. If you have any requests, please tell me ASAP! I hope you all enjoy this story! This one is really short, but I suppose it's better than nothing. Review! With ideas if you have them!**

**Title~ She Knew Better**

**Summary~ Jack had been alone a long time, and no one can walk away from that undamaged. The Guardians didn't always see, but Emma knew better.**

"FROST!" Bunny ran after the mischievous winter sprite. The spirit of time and sister to said winter sprite, Emma Overland, giggled as the six foot tall rabbit ran past. His ears were frozen together by a bow made of ice.

"It was just a joke, Bunny, calm down." she chastised gently stepping so she blocked the hall and her brother could dart to safety.

"I'll be soaked when this melts." he growled, crossing his arms. She sighed and put a hand on the ice. it melted and soaked his fur, but evaporated within seconds.

"Better now? I'm not supposed to use my powers like that." she said.

"How did you do that?" he asked, patting his head fur where it had once been soaked.

"I sped up time, and I won't do it again. Jack plays tricks to make people smile, he always has. It's what makes him Jack. You need to loosen up. He tricks you so often because you so rarely smile." she explained.

"He's trying to make me happy?" Bunny asked. Emma nodded.

"It's just what he does." she replied.

Emma stood to the side that night at the monthly meeting. On the first of every month each Guardian met up to report.

"The snowstorms are coming up great, and there have been no signs of blizzards trying to form, but it's still early in the season so I need to be careful." Jack reported.

"I thought you make the blizzards." Tooth said, confused. Jack laughed.

"I can only make so much weather, Toothy. I generally just send it where it needs to go and keep it from building up too much. Kind of like herding sheep, actually." he said.

"I hope the weather doesn't give you as much trouble as that ram." Emma said, her tone playful.

"That old thing was as mean as a snake, and you know it. But yeah, the weather is normally worse. I've just had three hundred years of practice now instead of seven." he said.

As Tooth, North, and Sandy all reported Emma couldn't help but study her brother's behavior. Sure, he set his staff down but it was always within easy reach. She'd noticed the past few months that fewer of his smiles were genuine, and she often caught him with a lonely look on his face, staring at nothing even if he seemed happy and playful and _Jack_ around the other Guardians.

She knew better.

You don't go three hundred years with nothing but a name and the wind undamaged. She could tell it had left a few scars on his heart. She seemed to be the only one he didn't keep at an arm's length, and it had taken over a month to get to where she was. Of course, she'd had to open back up to him as well.

Guilt swelled in her. She'd left him alone. She knew and she'd abandoned her brother when he would never leave her, no matter what. She'd caused him to die. Even if she knew no one blamed her, he didn't blame her, she still blamed herself.

She was stirred from her thoughts by North's hand on her shoulder.

"Meeting is over, Emma." he said. She smiled.

"Thanks North. I'd better be getting home." she said.

"You seem troubled. Can I help?" he asked. She smiled and shook her head.

"Not really. It'll just take time." she replied.

"Why don't you stay here tonight. It is late, and you seem tired." he said. She smiled.

"I'd like that. Thank you." she said.

The Guardians may not see how three centuries of loneliness had hurt Jack. But she knew that they'd make up for it even if they didn't realize it. Simply by caring, they would help her heal her brother.

They may not see it, but she knew better.


	2. Hiccups

**Oh my god I accidentally deleted this so I had to rewrite it. ;-; I nearly cried when I did that.**

**Thanks to Jinx-Nightangale for this idea!**

**Title~ Hiccups**

**Summary~ Jack has the hiccups, and Bunny needs to help him get rid of them before the Warren freezes over. The only problem with that? Jack can't remember how he always got rid of them! Luckily he's not the only Overland, and Emma happens to remember the trick to getting rid of Jack's hiccups.**

**WHERE IS THE FLUFF GENRE!?**

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><p>Bunny was actually fairly calm. Easter had just passed, and unlike last year with the fiasco with Pitch it had been a success. So with his busy season over, he spent most of the rest of the year tending the plants around the Warren, including his own personal garden.<p>

He was doing just that when a gust of cold air blew past him.

"Sorry!" he turned to see an apologetic winter sprite standing in front of him.

"What have I told you about freezing things in my Warren, mate?" Bunny asked, irritation leaking into his voice even if he was trying to be patient with his little brother.

_hic!_

Bunny's ears shot up as the flower he was kneeling in front of frosted over. He turned to see Jack with a hand clasped over his mouth.

_Hic!_

The winter spirit's shoulders jumped as the squeaking noise slipped from between his fingers.

"Frostbite, do you have the hiccups?" Bunny asked. Jack nodded, hiccuping again. Yet another flower froze over.

"And you freeze things when you get the hiccups?" Bunny demanded. Another nod accompanied by a hiccup. Bunny groaned.

"Can't you fly somewhere else then?" he asked.

"Have you- hic!- ever- hic!- tried fl- hic!- flying with the- hic!- hiccups?" Jack asked, hiccuping the whole time he tried to talk. It would have been funny, had everything not been slowly frosting over.

"Well how do we get rid of them? Have you tried holding your breath? Drinking water?" Bunny asked. Jack nodded.

"I- hic!- don't remember how- hic!- Mama used to- hic!- get rid of them! I've tried- hic!- everything! They last- hic!- weeks!" he exclaimed.

"So what are we gonna do? You're gonna freeze the whole Warren!" he exclaimed.

"I can't- hic!- help it!" Jack exclaimed. Bunny groaned, putting his paws in his hands.

He looked up as Jack sat down on a tree stump, hiccuping. The boy looked miserable, and Bunny had to feel for the kid. No one really liked a continuous case of the hiccups.

He opened his mouth to speak when Emma flew in. She paused as Jack hiccuped before a grin spread across her face and she put a finger to her lips in a signal for Bunny to be quiet.

"You're sure you've tried everything?" he asked. Jack just looked at him and nodded, his shoulders jumping and another hiccup escaping him.

"I- hic!- hate this- hic!" he said, crossing his arms as if it would help. By now Emma was leaning down and with her mouth right next to his ear she yelled at the top of her lungs

"WOLF!"

The reaction was instantaneous. Jack lept four feet in the air, snatching his staff and whirling around, pointing it at Emma. The young time spirit was doubled over clutching her stomach, laughing her head off.

"Emma! Why would you do that, you scared me half to death!" Jack exclaimed. It took another few seconds.

"T-That's how we get rid of your hiccups! Scaring you was the only thing that ever worked! Sometimes the whole village would be in on it, to see who could get rid of them first. Mama held the record of sneaking up on you and scaring you." she giggled.

"They're gone! It worked!" he exclaimed. She grinned and nodded.

"So that was the cure the whole time?" Bunny asked. She nodded.

"I heard him hiccuping when I came in." she said. Jack rolled his eyes.

"So now we know how to cure Jack when he gets the hiccups." Bunny said.

"Over the years he comes to expect the scaring, so we had to get more and more creative in how to scare them out of him." Emma giggled.

"Well, next time we'll be prepared." Jack said. Emma nodded and smiled.

"Yep. So you freeze things when you get the hiccups?" she asked.

"Yeah. You don't want to see what happens when I get the flu." he grimaced.


	3. Fade Away Pt 1

**This is the first story arc I'm gonna do for Stranger. I hope you enjoy it!**

**Title~ Fade Away**

**Summary~ Something has happened in the past, and Emma is beginning to fade. Can the Guardians save her in time? Or will Jack lose his little sister again, this time to never get her back?**

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><p>Jack was having a snowball fight with Jamie, Sophie, and the other Burgess kids when the northern lights flashed urgently overhead.<p>

"I have to go. See you later, kids!" he called. They all waved goodbye as Jack took off at a run.

"Wind, to the Pole!" he called, and the wind swept him mid-step into the air. He flew as fast as he could to the North Pole to find he was the last Guardian to arrive.

"What happened?" he asked.

"There's something wrong, in the past. Something's changed, Father Time said for me to come and get you all while he investigated." Emma said, pacing anxiously. Jack frowned. Even the slightest difference in the past could drastically alter the future, she had told him.

"When?" he asked.

"When we lived. The early seventeen hundreds. He wouldn't tell me what happened, he said he'd try to correct it before it altered the present." she said. Tooth was about to open her mouth to speak when Emma's eyes rolled back in her head and her knees buckled. Bunny, who was standing closest, caught her as an exclamation mark appeared over Sandy's head.

"Emma!" Jack exclaimed. He took her hand, to realize the tips of her fingers were beginning to pale, turning slowly translucent. She didn't respond.

"She's alive, but fading." the five Guardians turned to see Father Time standing there. He looked everything that Jack thought he would, yet at the same time the total opposite. He carried a long staff, his beard nearly reached the floor, but there was a young twinkle in his eyes that Jack hadn't expected. It was almost childish.

"What do you mean, she's fading?" Tooth demanded. Jack stared at the elderly spirit in horror. She couldn't be fading!

"She can't! I just got her back!" Jack exclaimed.

"When the past changed, someone saved Emma's life. Because she didn't die, she never became a spirit." he said.

"What will happen to her if no one prevents it?" Bunny asked.

"She'll grow up, and die old and ill. That is not her fate, or wasn't until a few hours ago." Father Time replied.

"So I'm going to lose her?" Jack asked, his voice hardly a whisper as his heart shattered in his chest.

"I never said that. I can stay here and slow the process as much as possible, and you can go back and prevent the change in the timeline." he said.

"I'll do it." Jack blurted, standing up and releasing his little sister's hand.

"Jack, do you realize what I'm asking you to do?" Father Time asked gravely. Jack clenched his jaw and nodded.

"Maybe one of us should go." Tooth hesitantly suggested.

"It has to be Jackson, if anyone goes." he said. Jack gulped and nodded.

"I can do this." he said. Father Time simply nodded.

"Very well." he said. With a sweeping motion he waved his staff and a portal opened up in midair.

"This will take you to the day your sister became a spirit." he said. Jack turned, kneeling next to his sister's head.

"Forgive me, Emma. I can't lose you, not again. I love you so much." he whispered in her ear before gently kissing her forehead. She didn't stir, her eyes didn't even move behind her eyelids. He picked up his staff and walked through the portal without turning around. It closed behind him. Father Time walked over to Emma, kneeling next to her and placing his hand on her shoulder. Immediately the translucency that was slowly spreading from her fingertips slowed even further.

"What if he fails?" Bunny asked.

"He won't fail." North said confidently.

"Then Emma will fade, and time will reset itself to make up for her absence. Only I... will ever remember her." he said.

"How many times has time reset like this?" Tooth asked.

"Once. I lost two very special people that day, and four of my comrades forgot me almost completely. They remember me but do not know I am Father Time." he replied.

"I'm sorry, Father Time." North said, putting a hand on the old man's shoulder.

"It's alright." the old man gently stroked Emma's hair.

"She reminds me of a girl I raised, a foundling. She is one, in a sense." he murmured.

"She's very special." North said softly.

"Yes indeed, to make children believe as she does. The girl I raised could do the same. She wrote stories, she had a wonderfully large imagination and a very kind personality. She was wise too, wiser than me oftentimes. I miss her every day. I could have saved them but I realized too late what was happening." his fond smile fell.

"You know now though, and Emma will be saved." Bunny said. Tooth turned to him, a puzzled look entering her eyes. She was standing apart from the others. She hadn't heard Bunny speak like that in a long time. It was almost the same speech pattern he had used when they first met during the Dark Ages, before a large amount of chocolate permanently affected him. What could have pulled that back out?

She looked at Father Time. He was very familiar, and the girl he spoke of was as well. She racked her memories, to see if she could remember a girl who fit the description. It was as if something was hiding her own memories from her. She frowned.

This was a mystery she would figure out.


End file.
